A comprehensive list of recently added postings on Dallasfed.org.
China expands Mexico investment but notably lags U.S., other G7 economies
China has been the fastest growing source of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Mexico in recent years. Chinese investment has also become a prominent issue in U.S.-Mexico economic relations. However, this FDI remains small compared with U.S. investment in Mexico.
September 26, 2025
Trimmed Mean PCE inflation rate
The Trimmed Mean PCE inflation rate over the 12 months ending in August was 2.75 percent. According to the BEA, the overall PCE inflation rate was 2.74 percent on a 12-month basis, and the inflation rate for PCE excluding food and energy was 2.91 percent on a 12-month basis.
September 26, 2025
El Paso Economic Indicators
Employment in El Paso contracted in August and the unemployment rate ticked up. Single-family housing permits continued to fall, while trade volumes continued to trend upward.
September 26, 2025
The case for modernizing the FOMC’s operating target rate
The time has come for the FOMC to prepare to target a different short-term interest rate. A repo rate would provide a more robust target than the current fed funds target.
September 25, 2025
Options for modernizing the FOMC’s operating target interest rate
The Federal Open Market Committee primarily adjusts the stance of monetary policy through its target range for the federal funds rate. We discuss whether the fed funds rate remains the right operating target for short-term interest rates.
September 25, 2025
Weekly Economic Index
The WEI is currently 2.05 percent, scaled to four-quarter GDP growth, for the week ended Sept. 20 and 2.30 percent for Sept. 13.
September 25, 2025
Oil and gas activity slips again on elevated uncertainty, higher costs
Activity in the oil and gas sector declined slightly in the third quarter of 2025, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey.
September 24, 2025
Lags, Leave-Outs and Fixed Effects
To avoid endogeneity, financial economists often construct regressors and/or instruments using values from other observations, with lagged and leave-out variables being common examples. This paper examines the use of such variables in common settings with fixed effects and shows that it can induce bias and distort inference.
September 23, 2025
What is keeping core inflation above 2 percent?
How much is current "excess" inflation? We take a new approach to this question, focusing on movements in relative prices.
September 23, 2025
Subcontracting in Federal Spending: Micro and Macro Implications
This paper studies the critical but underexplored role of subcontracting in shaping the spatial and firm-level effects of federal government spending.
September 22, 2025